[2510] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Books and journals on-line from publishers and vendors
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sean Donelan)
Fri Mar 13 03:50:22 1992
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 1992 2:47:27 -0600 (CST)
From: SEAN@SDG.DRA.COM (Sean Donelan)
To: com-priv@psi.com
X-Vmsmail-To: SMTP%"com-priv@psi.com"
I know of at least one book jobber that has already started accepting
purchase orders, and invoices via the Internet. And several other
vendors have been in contact with DRA about supporting ordering via
the Internet. Of course if you remember your history of AUP's; sending
invoices was one of the examples of an unacceptable use of the network.
Right now you can reach someone at almost every major academic publisher
in the U.S. via some magic e-mail incantation (and a lot of the minor
publishers too). The problem isn't whether or not you can reach them via
the network, it is finding out their address. Don't call me, call the
publishers and let them know what you want. Right now it is often done
by a few motivated individuals at the company. If you like it, be sure
to let their bosses know.
All of the vendors are still trying to figure out exactly what it all means.
It doesn't appear to be about cost since several vendors have tried offering
lower rates, flat rates, and every other kind of rate. It doesn't seem
to be about convenience since smart systems folk can setup computers so you
can access systems on Internet, TYMNET, or any other kind of network with
equal ease (DIALOG is proof of that :-).
Yes, the AUP is an extremely burdensome document, but its application has been
fairly liberal at the NSF level (some of the mid-levels are another story).
Of course, that may be because the NSF knows they are going to end up paying
for it one way or another. When I propose stuff that even I think crosses
the line, I usually get back "That sounds interesting, let us know how it
turns out." But the legal types really hate that (it isn't a "yes", and it
isn't a "no", its just a "Mmm").
Likewise the vendors seem to be loosening up. At the last library trade
show I attended there were a couple of vendors selling Internet access, and
half-a-dozen more were demonstrating how they could connect to systems around
the world via the Internet. All from their booths on the trade show flow. I
don't know how you can get more commercial than that. You might be used to
that at Interop, but this was a library convention. Either they didn't
know better, or they didn't care.
If customers say they want to use the Internet, all the vendors will be
there eventually (some sooner than others, one way or another). But be
prepared, once vendors smell money they will work with you, or go around you,
but in any case they are going to go after the customer with a vengeance.
Continued end-to-end connectivity problems is just one symptom. Just last
week I had two more customers, currently using the Internet, tell me they were
going to their funding agency to put in a private line to St. Louis. Because,
the performance and management of the Internet is too variable for their needs.
--
Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO
Domain: sean@sdg.dra.com, Voice: (Work) +1 314-432-1100
Working at, but not speaking for DRA.
